Hospital Monitoring

The Intelligent Clothing system is designed to accommodate up to 25 babies in one ward, each being individually monitored by a Bedside Display Unit (BDU) and with each display transferring its data to a Nurses Central Station Computer where simultaneous monitoring and comparison can be carried out.

The Radio

The SmartPatch™ and SmartBand™ radio uses less than 1/1000 of the power of a mobile phone and very low frequencies which are not associated with the health issues of bluetooth and other standard radios. Despite the low power and low frequencies it has sufficient bandwidth to transmit the following data continuously:-

  • Respiratory plethysmography
  • Cardiac auscultation
  • EKG
  • Temperature
  • O2 Saturation

Part of the radio's ultra low power performance is due to its unique collision avoidance integrity which allows many babies to be monitored close together without having to employ power-hungry and fault-prone time and frequency modulation algorithms.

Recovery and Special Care Baby Units

Intelligent Clothing wireless monitoring provides specific advantages for Recovery and Special Care wards. These wards are intended to foster understanding and bonding between mother and baby. Either one or both may be recovering from a life threatening event and it is essential that mother and baby have close contact for swift recovery. Babies attached to machines by numerous wires cannot be easily cuddled, massaged or breast fed. Intelligent Clothing wireless technology enables mother-baby bonding.

Tactile-Kinetic Massage
Scafidi, Field and Schanberg have demonstrated that massaged preterms can gain up to 47% more weight than non-massaged preterms; they become more socially responsive and can be discharged up to 6 days early as a result of regular tactile-kinetic massage. Intelligent Clothing facilitates the massaging process.

Confident discharge

SmartPatch and SmartBand monitoring for hospitalized babies can be transferred with them when they go home; the data being transmitted via the internet. Hence the hospital can release some patients earlier, confident that the same technical standard of monitoring in the ward will be maintained at home. This is particularly useful for patients returning home on oxygen therapy.

Objective Admissions

The 24/7 monitoring and historical analysis features of Intelligent Clothing and Care Control Software enables the patient's doctor, the consultant and the relevant insurance company to objectively assess a patient's condition prior to admission. This objectivity will include a graphic display of the patient's cardio-respiratory, oximetry and temperature physiology over time, correlated with intervention procedures and drug prescription.